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Related Experiment Videos

Psychopathy and the posterior hippocampus.

M P Laakso1, O Vaurio, E Koivisto

  • 1Department of Neurology, Bldg. 5, Kuopio University Hospital, POB 1777, 70211, Kuopio, Finland. mikko.laakso@uku.fi

Behavioural Brain Research
|February 13, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Psychopathy neurobiology is poorly understood. This study found smaller posterior hippocampal volumes in violent offenders, correlating with higher psychopathy scores, suggesting a link to impaired fear conditioning.

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Area of Science:

  • Neurobiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Forensic Psychology

Background:

  • The neural basis of psychopathy and its relation to violent behavior, moral cognition, and decision-making remain unclear.
  • Medial temporal lobe dysfunction is hypothesized in psychopathic behavior, but direct neuroanatomical evidence is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of psychopathy by examining hippocampal volumes in habitually violent offenders.
  • To explore the relationship between regional hippocampal volumes and psychopathy severity.

Main Methods:

  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure regional hippocampal volumes in 18 habitually violent offenders.
  • Subjects had diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder and type 2 alcoholism.
  • Hippocampal volumes were correlated with psychopathy scores from the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R).

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Main Results:

  • Significant negative correlations (up to -0.79) were found between psychopathy scores and bilateral posterior hippocampal volumes.
  • These findings suggest a link between reduced posterior hippocampal volume and the degree of psychopathy.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides neuroanatomical evidence supporting the link between posterior hippocampal dysfunction and psychopathy.
  • Findings align with theories suggesting impaired conditioned fear acquisition as a core deficit in psychopathy.